Businesses failing to use data for better marketing decisions

Indian businesses are investing more in data-driven digital platforms and tracking systems to help them understand the challenging online landscape.MUMBAI: In spite of data availability, businesses are failing to make an informed decision, says a market research survey. The survey, with a sample size of over 2,700 marketing professionals across the Asia Pacific region, including 533 from the country, has found that the volume and variety of data are obscuring valuable insights, thus making it harder for businesses to use them to their advantage.

Indian businesses are investing more in data-driven digital platforms and tracking systems to help them understand the challenging online landscape. Much of this data come into the marketing department, with one in three marketers (37%) now managing real-time data as part of their role, says a TNS Marketing Monitor survey. However, the survey has found that 70% of marketers in the country admit that they find it difficult to integrate data from different sources.

With so much data available, marketers know they should be able to make decisions in realtime, but many are struggling to integrate traditional and digital measurements.

“Many businesses are overwhelmed by the volume of data. The online environment in the country is developing at breakneck speed. As more and more people start connecting to the Internet through mobile and other digital platforms, the amount of data is set to explode.

“The key is to understand how to use it effectively now, before the volume becomes unmanageable,” TNS India's S Visvanathan said.